News staff writer

Connie Peters threw flour down and began to roll out pie crusts.

Her co-workers call her “The Dough Queen,” for Peters has been the longtime driving force behind coordinating the pie making.

She oversaw the work of 30 volunteers Thursday on making 700 pies for the Harvest Fest. The activity has been a fund-raiser for the Hood River Valley Adult Center for 10 years but its time has come to an end.

“This is the last time,” said Heidi Musgrave, the center’s director. “We’re just too tired to continue anymore.”

Musgrave said the senior center holds the fund-raiser as one of the ways they come up with money to offset the cost of senior meals.

“We just can’t offer those meals for $3 apiece if we don’t fund-raise as well,” she said.

During the 10 years of making pies Musgrave said she has been blessed with a core group of volunteers who have worked hard to pull the fund-raiser off. But as the years have worn on, the job hasn’t attracted any fresh help and everyone is now 10 years older.

“That makes it harder,” Musgrave said. “It’s just so labor-intensive to do it.”

That work involves measuring, mixing, rolling out dough, putting the bottom crust in, filling the pie, adding butter, topping the pie, trimming the crust, fluting the edges, stamping the pie, baking, cooling, cleaning up, loading, selling and lots of lifting — hundreds of times.

If not all the pies sell at the Harvest Fest, then the crews must bring pies back to be sold at the senior center.

Musgrave said that while the seniors are calling it quits, they will consider restarting the tradition if they can find the help.

“We have all the equipment and know-how,” she said. “If we can find someone to share the cost and the work, then we would be willing to start again.”